A few of Eastern Elementary School’s classes were deceptively empty on Monday, the first day back for from summer break. The school’s kindergartners will have a staggered start to the school year.

“It’s staggered over three days,” said Principal Melissa Dana. “We do three half-days because of the number of folks.”

Students learn about sitting “criss-cross applesauce” and taking turns. Teachers learn names and spend one-on-one time conducting their first student assessments of the year.

“This is the time to get acclimated to the whole thing,” Dana said.

In this, her first year at Eastern, Dana had to acclimate, too. Last year, she was at S.W. Snowden with about 200 students, grades pre-k to eight. This year, Eastern’s kindergarten class is more than 300 students.

“It’s a lot larger. But, kids are kids, regardless of whether they are in kindergarten or eighth grade,” she said. “At this level, they just absolutely love school.”

Kindergarten teacher Jennifer Walker said her students were enthusiastic about every part of the day. She even had one student tell her she had fun cleaning off her desk.

“She said, ‘that was so much fun cleaning. Can I clean the whole room?’”

Teaching Assistant Elizabeth Hodges reported having an easy day with her group of newcomers.

“It seems like they come knowing so much already. They come in as pros,” she said.

Overall, the day was a good one and Dana was pleased to see the students excited to be learning.

“In middle school, I didn’t always see that,” she said.